The Nintendo DS Thread (NDS) - THE LIST

[Ed Oscuro]

You advance upon enemies too quickly (and vice versa) for the stop-and-go movement to seem a reasonable limitation on the player here, hence my line about enemies coming quickly. Sorry for the misleading writing of that line.

I also wrote what you read that statement as meaning: Enemies definitely come too rarely to easily keep a chain alive. That in itself isn't a bad thing. Combine this with the necessity of making fiddly jumps to get at enemies in some locations (treetops, etc.), though, and it is simply too much of a chore for my liking, and with little return. It's very strange they have designed it this way, too, because the original game (and I think Demon Sword / Fudo Myou Den) epitomizes free-ranging action, whereas this game seems to want to be a bit more like a Castlevania in character movement, except I don't recall having so much trouble just jumping after an attack in a Castlevania title.

I randomly got an A ranking on the third stage without doing anything too special with hit chaining, anyway, so the claims of rewarding chaining are exaggerated. I could at least respect the game if it expected me to keep a chain alive with shuriken hits while running up a wall; and judging from the enemy placement in some levels, it might yet ask me to do that. Of course, I wouldn't greatly relish such a challenge, either. I admit this last part seems to just be an issue of taste.

I didn't notice shuriken hits not adding to the hits gained, but maybe it doesn't. It seems rather extreme, given how rare enemies can be, to not have a shuriken hit advance the hit counter.

Frankly, I think chains are, in most games that implement them across many genres, a surefire way of sucking the fun out of a game for a mechanic that rarely makes sense or is better than alternatives.

Also, I had a bit more trouble seeing the game than usual - lots of dark colors and characters blending in. I will have to turn the backlight up for this one.

[Skykid]

Yeah I'm getting all those gripes. Certainly agree with you that the system lacks refinement and could have been better implemented. I also continued on a later boss and got an S ranking just for killing him, so not sure how that works.

For me it was just a surprise to find a game in an old school mould with such fast and free ninja controls. Strip away the chaining and dashing up walls, flinging shuriken and leaping through the air is still very satisfying. The music is excellent too, and afain, the boss fights are solid.

[Ed Oscuro]

Not sure I know how chaining works with the weapons, having spent a bit more time with it:
Attacking repeatedly with shuriken and killing enemies = counter goes up
Shuriken hit / kill with a "stale" counter = counter times out
Shuriken hits against enemies (specifically at least one kind of warrior monk) with lots of health = no counter increase

Also odd:
Stationary attacks = you can't move
But attack while running (except when dashing) = you keep going


I will stick with it though

[Ed Oscuro]

Update (feeble thread bump attempt):

I went back and got an A-ranking on the first stage, and tried the latest stage again (no dice yet). I'm not really noticing any trouble when you play the game the way you're supposed to, Shinobi-style, with melee attacks and only using the shuriken sparingly, so perhaps getting stopped dead in place for a beat when and after using shuriken is meant to push you towards using the sword instead. Lining up shots still does annoy me, but overall it's a nice and expansive feeling compared to other games of the type. Like the vertical levels quite a bit. You have to be careful when button-bashing your way to combo slashgasms with this one, since it naturally cements you in place, letting some bosses bowl you over.

[Skykid]

Update (feeble thread bump attempt):

I went back and got an A-ranking on the first stage, and tried the latest stage again (no dice yet). I'm not really noticing any trouble when you play the game the way you're supposed to, Shinobi-style, with melee attacks and only using the shuriken sparingly, so perhaps getting stopped dead in place for a beat when and after using shuriken is meant to push you towards using the sword instead. Lining up shots still does annoy me, but overall it's a nice and expansive feeling compared to other games of the type. Like the vertical levels quite a bit. You have to be careful when button-bashing your way to combo slashgasms with this one, since it naturally cements you in place, letting some bosses bowl you over.

Hold on, you were using the Shuriken as your primary weapon?

That sort of explains it then. I'm pretty sure Kage 2 is all swordplay with a little shuriken throwing to catch stray enemies while in mid air (or anywhere really.) I only ever focussed on sword slashing - the game is about keeping pace more than anything and finding a way to bridge the distance between one enemy to the next before the chain dies.

Again, it's not a very refined system because the enemy randomisation will ruin it too often, but for me that's the most satisfying way to keep the game at a lovely flow. Sadly, it's also easy to exploit - technically this would be an easy title for pacifist play, as it's so easy to jump and air dash your way over most stages without having to confront anyone.

[Phellan Wolf]

I got the other day The Dark Spire (thanks colour_thief ) and damn, it is gorgeous, I mean is awesome. It has the old feeling of classic dungeon crawlers (eye of the beholder etc), music is just top notch and gameplay is fantastic so far.
It is a shame that such a game has been put into darknes by the audience.

[Skykid]

Finally got down to finishing Kage 2 tonight. Fantastic last boss.

You open two more skills, a boss rush mode and a hard mode option. The boss rush is great fun, since they comprise the game's most creative aspect, and learning them all down to a fine art is great for tying up a 1cc, since the actual stages aren't overly tough.

Hard mode is by far superior: more enemies taking more hits and inflicting greater damage. Changes the way the game works quite fundamentally, and of course you get to start with the full range of Kage's skills this time around.

Before embarking on any particular personal achievements, I'm going to get through it with the cute ninja girl instead.

[Ed Oscuro]

I almost got 50 hits in a row against the elder sister (the magic user), I'm still pretty early in Kage's playthrough.

I have tried using shuriken to keep a chain alive and it doesn't seem reliable at all, even if it's killing scrub enemies on the screen above.

[Skykid]

Discovered a game called Monster Tale that I've added to the OP. It's got my attention, surprisingly. Metroid with juggle combos and pretty colours, and a pet monster that you can grow into a fully fledged killer.

[shmuppyLove]

Discovered a game called Monster Tale that I've added to the OP. It's got my attention, surprisingly. Metroid with juggle combos and pretty colours, and a pet monster that you can grow into a fully fledged killer.

Fuck yeah that game is awesome, has a killer soundtrack too.

[guigui]

I found Monster Tale pretty disappoint after Henry Hatsworth.

[BulletMagnet]

The combat is deeper (i.e. there are more ways to juggle extra cash out of things) thanks to the monster helper and wider ability set, but having to slow down to look at the map or adjust your monster's stats isn't as engaging as switching back and forth from the puzzle (which in itself could be a bit of a pain at times), and there's rather little exploration to be done for a "Metroidvania" type of game, not to mention that the art style isn't as distinctive. Monster Tale is still a good game, but yeah, Hatsworth is definitely my favorite from those guys, which is a bit of a shame since that's when they had the Big Fat EA Budget to work with, which they no longer do (then again, having Disney behind them didn't do much to help Epic Mickey on 3DS either). I really hope they get the chance to find their groove again...

[evil_ash_xero]

I was interested in buying a Pokemon game. Are they any good? I was looking at Heart/Gold. It's supposed to be a remake of one of the better ones.

Do they have any difficulty to them?

[soprano1]

I was interested in buying a Pokemon game. Are they any good? I was looking at Heart/Gold. It's supposed to be a remake of one of the better ones.

Do they have any difficulty to them?

Yes, HG/SS is a good one. No difficulty at all, just enjoy the capturing and cockfights.

[Neathyr]

They aren't difficult at all. Provided you don't power-level, that is, but still. Don't really know what to say to convince someone to play this series, since it's fairly easy to get turned off (very easy difficulty, OCD-friendly, takes too long to finish the main quest, tons of ways to trivialize the game...). But I guess the main appeal of Pokémon (to me) is the fact that it's a game that masterfully absorbs me into a whole different world, so I just let myself get involved with the HUGE sense of adventure it provides.

Not to mention you have, uh... thousands of different ways to beat the game, really. If you feel like using a full 6 team to annihilate the E4, go for it. Want to use a team of a single type to finish the main game? Sure, why not. Want to get cocky and solo the entire game with a single 'mon? Go for it. "Do I use a more offensive Alakazam to take advantage of its vast movepool, or should I use it more as a defensive unit?". Well, it's up to you to decide.
Just don't grind, else you'll steamroll the opposition with ease (which is why I don't use 6 'mons. Because if you do, the game kind of encourages you to grind in order to proceed).
Eh, it's the only JRPG franchise I play, so what in the flying fuck do I know?

Keep in mind though, the battle system constantly evolves with each generation. Plus, GameFreak adds a few QoL stuff to enhance the experience (TM having infinite uses starting with the 5th generation, better environment interaction from 2nd generation onwards...). Those two reasons are enough to make it hard for you to come back to previous installments.

HeartGold/SoulSilver, along with Black 2/White 2, are the most content-heavy game in the series. So yes, you made the right choice. Not only that, but they don't have the slow as molasses battle speed of Diamond/Pearl (also a 4th gen game). If you like HG/SS, try Platinum next, for I feel Sinnoh is a bit underrated. Platinum is essentially a GOTY version for DP along with features not found in the original releases (they like to do this a lot ever since the 1st gen.), so you won't really miss anything by skipping the vanilla games.

PS: If you value your sanity, do not bother with IVs (especially if you're playing it for the single-player aspect). You'll thank me later.